Wednesday, September 6 2006 14:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Japan is in a dilemma over Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas. While Colombo wants it to outlaw the group, Tokyo is still hoping to reach out to the Tiger leadership to push it towards peace talks.

Besides facilitator Norway, Japan is the only country among the Sri Lankan co-chairs group that has not banned the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The co-chairs group, which also includes the US and the European Union, oversees the peace process.

Last week, Japanese ministers and departments concerned with Sri Lanka and security affairs met in Tokyo to decide if any action needs to be taken against the LTTE.

According to informed sources, while some wanted 'tangible' steps to be initiated against the Tigers for their unending pursuit of violence, others were of the view that Japan should wait and watch for some more time.

It was finally decided that Tokyo would wait until the Sep 12 meeting in Brussels of the co-chairs and until its special envoy to Sri Lanka, Yasuhi Akashi, visits the island in the weeks to come.

Akashi had told sources in July that Japan was seriously considering taking "tangible measures' against the Tigers. But before that he would go to Sri Lanka to see if Colombo and the Tigers could return to negotiations.

Akashi had also stated that he would like to meet Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, who ultimately decides the LTTE's policy and whom he had last met in 2003.

Subsequent to the sources interview, the LTTE conveyed to Japan that it would not be possible for Prabhakaran to meet Akashi at this stage and suggested that he should for now meet S.P. Tamilchelvam, who heads the group's political wing.

Indications are that Akashi might do that. But equally important, Japan would then decide whether the LTTE is amenable or not to Tokyo's urgings to return to the path of negotiations with the Sri Lankan government.

If Japan concludes that its dealings with the LTTE are having no impact, it would first go for a freezing of the group's assets, said one informed source, before deciding what else should be done.

This thinking has gained further urgency in view of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka where the military has recaptured the strategic port town of Sampoor in the island's east to secure Trincomalee, a major naval base.

Hundreds have died and thousands have been displaced in recent weeks of fighting. Most victims have been Tamils. Thousands of Tamils have reached India, primarily from Sri Lanka's eastern region.

Japanese diplomats are aware that the LTTE is not easily amenable to pressure, as the European Union ban this year showed. After the ban, the LTTE refused to deal with Sweden, Denmark and Finland, three of the five members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which oversees the peace process, for being European Union members, leading to their withdrawal.

But Tokyo, the sources pointed out, cannot remain indefinitely indifferent to domestic demands for action against the LTTE in view of the continuing violence in Sri Lanka. Colombo also wants Tokyo to act tough.

At the same time, Japan would like to draw a line between its linkages with the LTTE and its humanitarian work in Sri Lanka's northeast which includes building and refurbishing hospitals.

Also, with a dramatic rise in violence in Sri Lanka, Japan is in touch with other co-chairs to explore ways by which Colombo can be asked to check human rights abuses whose victims are predominantly Tamils.

And Japan remains in touch with India over the situation in Sri Lanka.